An Awkward Truce
by willwrite4fics
Summary: Continuation of Ranger Rendezvous storyline. Beachhead finds a new Joe when he arrives back at the PITT, will they be able to work as teammates? Can Beachhead let go of the past? Will the PITT survive?
1. Chapter 1

Set directly after Ranger Rendezvous, Beachhead and company arrive back at the PITT.

This will be a longer fic. A bit of fun, a bit of ranting. A lot of Beachhead and a new Joe. I am also attempting to get a lot of other Joes to appear in the fic.

I do not own any rights to GI Joe and make no money from these posted writings.

* * *

><p>Chapter One<p>

Beach squinted at the sunlight as they stepped out of the small transport truck. "Gawd damn but it's taken us long enough to get here." He hefted his duffel bag and the rifle case as they headed for the motorpool. The bandage on his head had scuffed the hair up on that side. The discoloration of the bruising and the bloodshot eye on that side gave him a hungover appearance.

Stalker on the other hand looked spry and alert. "Now now Beach, it wasn't anyone's fault that we got delayed at the airport. You should have more patience." He held out a hand. "Give me your rifle, I'll go put it in the armory, gotta take mine down there anyway." He took the case. "I think you should go check in with Hawk." They rode the lift down into the lower levels of the Pitt.

Beach snorted. "Yeah well... thanks for taking the rifles." He suddenly grinned and bumped fists with the lean Sergeant. "Rangers lead the way."

"You got it. Courtney, keep him out of trouble a little while, 'kay?" He disappeared into the halls.

Covergirl tilted her head slightly to give her Ranger a sideways glance. "How's the head?"

"It hurts." Beach started to reach for the bandage and stopped himself. "Whaddaya expect? I got shot in the head." He swallowed and they walked a few steps in silence before he spoke up softer. "Sorry. I'm cranky. My head hurts and I just wanna get back to normal." He flicked his eyes to her and then reached to take her hand briefly.

She squeezed his fingers. "It's okay. It's been a rough week." She reached up and patted him. "Poor Beachie, you're going to need a vacation from your vacation."

"Shut up, princess." He was nudged by her anyway. "See you for dinner?"

She smiled. "Of course. I'm going to go sign in with Flint and get unpacked and stuff. I hope Hawk isn't sending you out somewhere, you need a little rest with that big giant hole in your thick skull."

"Ain't no hole in my head." His voice lowered. "Ah just act like it around you." When she blushed and smiled, he cheered inwardly at his success. "Go on, git. Can't have you taggin' along with me everywhere like a danged puppy..." He shooed at her while she shook a fist at him mockingly. As she veered off to the other offices, he headed for Hawk's larger office towards the back of the admin section.

Despite everything that had happened, despite his injuries and the shock and betrayal of his old teammate, Beach was still in a decent mood. He had needed the time at Fort Benning, being reminded of the camaraderie of the Rangers and competing instead of being involved in a running dangerous battle... he felt revitalized. And, he grinned evilly, he was going to build himself a tall log walk too, the Joes were entirely too complacent about his obstacle course and it needed a good shake up.

His good mood evaporated in an instant about ten minutes later when Hawk dropped the most unexpected news on him.

"HELL NO!" Beach saw Hawk's eyes narrow and suddenly swallowed his hot temper down. "Ah Ah mean... uhh... You can't really be serious? Stormshadow is a murderin' crazy-headed bastard! He can't be on the team!"

Hawk raised only one eyebrow. "He's on the team."

Beach couldn't quite hold his tongue. "But yer nuts to think..." Hawk's face went stony and Beach struggled to backpedal. "Not that yer nuts.. but the idea. Ah mean, he's crazy and if you think he'd... uh.. "

The voice of authority spoke. "Are you questioning my judgment?" He watched without expression as his Sergeant major struggled to find a non-insulting way to call his commanding officer a complete twit. He finally spoke again. "Let me put it bluntly. Are you capable of following orders or not?" His tone left no room for mistake.

"Sir! Yes Sir!" Beachhead snapped to attention. His expression still looked confused and upset but that didn't matter as long as his actions followed his orders.

Hawk stepped over to stand close to the Ranger. "Good. Now listen up. You will treat him as a teammate. You will not attack him. You will not pick fights with him. You will not accuse him of past crimes. Am I being clear?"

"SIR! Yes Sir!" Beach's stance didn't even twitch. He stared directly ahead, rigid as a statue.

Hawk could tell he wasn't happy about it. "I understand this will be a difficult time. I do want you watching him during your regular duties, as all of my senior staff will be. But I don't want you harassing him or laying hands on him."

Beach nodded. "Yes Sir!" He paused. "But.." His eyes made a bare flicker over to Hawk's face before staring straight ahead again. "But... if I got to train him..."

Hawk leaned back slightly. "You train him like you would any Joe."

"But he ain't a Joe!" Beach hurried to continue at Hawk's dark look. "Ah mean, he ain't passed even the first assessment... he oughta be with greenshirt ranks!"

Hawk snorted and returned to stand behind his desk. "He's an Arashikage ninja, I have little doubt he can keep up." He took a deep breath. "So. Can I trust that you will not rush off to try to put a few bullets in our newest team member?"

"Sir yes sir." Beach kept even the hint of rebellion out of his voice.

"And I'm not going to have you in here trying to explain to me how you got into a fistfight with him the instant you got in the same room?"

"Sir no sir!" Beach straightened even more.

"Good. Dismissed." Hawk watched the Sergeant major struggle to think of an objection that didn't question Hawk's sanity and fail. Finally he saluted sharply and left. As soon as the door shut, Hawk settled into his chair and sighed. "This will be... interesting."

* * *

><p>Beach stalked through the hallways, his mind turning over the idea. It occurred to him that Stalker probably had been in the know and that pissed him off. Stalker wasn't fourth in command. There was no reason he should know before Beachhead. But then, Hawk was the commanding officer and if he wanted to tell a lower ranked team member before Beachhead, then that was how it was.<p>

"Hey Beach." Alpine waved at him trying to get his attention. "Hey dude, good to see you back but the PA is yelping at you." When Beach glanced up, he spread his hands. "Doc's been repeating that you're to go to medical." He was glowered at and backed up two steps. "Hey hey, not my fault. You come back to the Pitt with a big old bandage on your head, Doc's gonna want to see you, you know?"

"Dammit." Things just kept getting better and better. Beach changed direction to head down to medical. Normally he'd simply avoid the medics until they ran him to ground, but right now he'd welcome the legitimate chance to yell at some people.

* * *

><p>End Chapter<p>

Well, now everyone knows who the new Joe is. (I know, like that was a mystery!) I'm certain that things will be smooth flying from now on and Beach and Storm will become fast friends and trusted teammates immediately.

Stop laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

A bit of a long chapter this time since I am late updating! Thank you all for the reviews.

CHAPTER TWO

Leaving medical with his ears burning, Beach thumped the wall hard with one fist. Doc not only had _not_ put up with Beachhead sniping at him, he'd scolded the Ranger. Scolded him. Like some wet-behind-the-ears pup. Beach growled lowly. His fingers reached up to touch the fresh bandaging. Doc had insisted on taking all the bandages off and checking everything himself. Then he'd spent the entire time it took to rebandage the wounds telling Beachhead exactly how limited he was going to be in his duties. Then he'd repeated the limitations and made Beach repeat them. THEN he'd told him that if he violated even the least one, Doc would put him on desk duty until the end of the month.

Beach thumped the wall again as he strode down the hallway, leaving a slight dent in the drywall. He glanced guiltily at the spot and sped up slightly. He really didn't need maintenance complaining to Duke. He held up the small packet of pills and frowned at it. More pills. As if the Fort Benning medical staff hadn't given him enough drugs. He ignored the fact that he'd 'lost' the medication they'd given him after he was discharged from the hospital. If he'd needed more stuff, he'd have kept it.

Stuffing the pills into his pocket, he grumbled to himself. If he didn't take the things, he was certain Doc would find out somehow. At least he'd managed to duck pain meds. Anything stronger than Tylenol wasn't needed unless he was in a cast or strapped to a hospital bed.

Stalking down to his own rooms, he barely replied to any greetings and queries from his teammates. His eyes darted side to side, watching for someone he knew he'd have little chance of spotting. Once in his room, he changed clothing to his familiar sweater and camo pants. Beach held his tactical vest and told himself that he didn't need it to go eat dinner. But the idea that the enemy ninja was lurking somewhere in the base... he fastened it snugly and rechecked all of his weapons.

The messhall was typically crowded. Beach still looked around carefully before taking his loaded tray to a table. He could barely look at the food as he continued to scan the hall. When someone jabbed him in the ribs, he leapt up grabbing at his sidearm and cursing.

Covergirl held up her hands. "Whoa... calm down, Beach. I was just getting your attention. Why didn't you come sit with me?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Are we fighting again? I wish you'd tell me when we're fighting if I didn't start it."

He rolled his eyes. "No, we ain't fightin... I'm just watchin' fer that... " He swallowed back words visibly and continued. "For Stormshadow."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously? Flint told me he was here, didn't Hawk tell you, he's on our side now? I mean, SnakeEyes vouches for him and..."

"And SnakeEyes ain't never been fooled by the bas... by him?" Beach looked at her with astonishment. "You don't trust him, do you?!"

She shrugged and looked away. "Well no, not really but why would he join the team and be here for the past three days or so and not have done anything bad? I mean, he could have gone ahead and stabbed people and so far he's been good." Her voice lowered. "And I kind of don't want to call SnakeEyes a liar, you know?"

He grunted irritably. "What's he gonna do? Stab me? Like his danged friend will, no doubt?" He suddenly spun to look behind himself. "Gawd dammit."

She laid a careful hand on his arm. "Beach, sit. Eat your dinner. You going hungry won't help things any." With some coaxing, she settled him next to her and he began to eat cautiously.

"I don't like this at all." He grumbled as they ate, her reassuring him despite her own misgivings. When Torpedo plopped into the chair opposite them, Beach jumped but managed to keep from drawing any weapons this time.

Torpedo's eyes were bright. "So you heard right? The big bad ninja is a Joe now? I heard Ace is offering a betting pool on how long until he kills all of us in our sleep."

Beachhead growled. "Don't be a dumbass."

Torpedo looked around briefly. "What? You don't trust the guy right? He's a Cobra! He's killed more than a few of us good guys!"

Beach snorted and chewed a piece of bread. "No I don't trust the bastard. It's just a dumbass bet cause if he goes and murders all of us, how will anyone collect?"

Torpedo opened his mouth to object and then closed it as he thought it over. "Dammit. I gave that scammer my last twenty bucks!" He took off across the room and Beach looked at Covergirl and rolled his eyes.

She smiled anyway. "Well some things never change."

"Yeah." He was finishing his dinner and chatting quietly with her when he saw her eyes widen slightly before she tried to hide her reaction. He whirled to look and spotted a slender dark haired man dressed in the familiar white gi. He felt his teeth grit and struggled to stay seated when every nerve in him screamed about pulling out weapons to try to take the enemy out.

Covergirl's hand closed over one of his fists. "Shh, calm down." His jaw clenched but he relaxed his hands to lay them flat against the surface of the messhall table. "It's okay, he's not going to do anything right here in the messhall. He wouldn't dare." She nodded slightly. "Look, SnakeEyes is right there too."

He tore his gaze away from Stormshadow with an effort. If he glanced away, the ninja would probably disappear but SnakeEyes was standing right there. He reminded himself to breathe. "Yeah, Snakes wouldn't let him do nothing." He couldn't help staring.

Covergirl patted him slightly. "Relax, don't let him see he's making you nervous."

That made him swallow and take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Beach forced himself to relax. He picked up his fork and made himself look at his food although it made his skin crawl to not watch the ninja in the room. He couldn't have told anyone what food he was eating or have repeated anything Covergirl was saying. But he tried to project nothing but unconcern outwardly.

He did notice when his girlfriend suddenly shut up and stiffened. He knew what he would see and strictly forbade himself to react in any way as he looked up to see Stormshadow standing across the table holding a messhall tray. The Cobra ninja tried a innocent smile and waved a hand at the empty chairs.

"Do you mind if I sit?"

The genteel question still made Beachhead want to leap to his feet and strangle the smug bastard. Could he sit in the messhall where some of their dead teammates had eaten their last meals? Reminding himself several times that he was under very clear, very strict orders made him able to take in a breath and stand up.

"Ah don't give a shit where ya sit." He picked up his tray, using both hands carefully. "Ah done lost mah appetite." Giving a slight jerk of his chin to Covergirl, he turned his back on Stormshadow and walked to dump the tray and set it in the appropriate place for the dishwashers. His spine tingled for each step. Covergirl followed him out, listening to him begin cursing in a strained whisper as he walked down the hall leaving.

She looped her arm through one of his. "You did good. I thought there was going to be gunfire for a second. How'd you stay under control?"

He snorted. "Hawk ordered me not to try to shoot the fucker."

"Oh." She squeezed his arm. "I still think you showed massive self-control."

"Thanks." He twisted his neck back and forth to loosen the muscles. "Gawd help me, but I don't know how I'm gonna make it."

She looked behind them as he stepped into the lift. "Well, you can't shoot him, but Hawk didn't say you couldn't run him to death during PT." Her hand hovered over the floor buttons. "Where are we going?"

He paused. "Up. I think I need some fresh air..." As she punched the correct button, he gave a shrug to resettle himself. "PT ain't going to bother a Arashikage ninja. You know how Snakes and Jinx breeze through everything."

She nodded. "Well yeah, I guess. But even SnakeEyes and Jinx have limits to their endurance."

"I guess." They walked out through the motorpool and exited to the outside to look at the desert. "Cooled off fast tonight." He looked down at her beside him and very deliberately put his arm around her. "Thanks." Feeling very daring, he planted a kiss on her forehead. "For keeping me from jumping the table and trying to strangle him."

"Ha, well, I'm not sure I could stop you if you'd gone ahead, but you're welcome." Reaching up to fondle his hair, she touched the bandages gently. "You should get plenty of rest. You can't heal if you don't rest you know."

"Yeah well, Doc told me everything I can't do so I won't be 'over-exerting' myself." He gave a snort. "If it didn't kill me, I don't see how going for a nice run is gonna make it any worse."

She pinched his arm lightly. "You behave. A couple of days and Doc will lift the restrictions and you'll get to run as much as you like. Until then, you rest up and do what Doc tells you to and try not to drive Lifeline too insane trying to catch you misbehaving."

"Heh. No promises." He stretched carefully and sighed. "I'm glad to be back." He looked at her. "Okay, stop givin' me that look. I'll rest some."

Courtney's face broke into a coy smile. "Well, good. But you don't have to rest right this moment..." Her hands slid up behind his head and drew him down to a kiss.

Despite his unease, Beach responded eagerly. "No, rest later..." His eyes made a quick glance around for any sign of white before his senses were taken by nothing but the woman in his arms.

* * *

><p>Even the kitchen crew hadn't been ready when the sergeant major had appeared extremely early in the morning. But he wasn't able to sleep, tossing and turning and waking himself out of vague nightmares all night. Finally he'd given up on sleep and stalked through the darkened hallways warily. Stopping for a long moment outside of the quarters of the pair of ninja, he frowned and listened for any untoward noises. Nothing at all and he finally walked on, quietly moving around the base restlessly.<p>

SnakeEyes sharing his space with Stormshadow made him feel only slightly better. He trusted SnakeEyes... as far as he could trust any sneaky ninja at least. If Snakes was around to keep an eye on the traitorous bastard... he grumbled to himself and changed the term even in his own head, their newest teammate, then Beach could relax just a little bit. If Hawk hadn't expressly ordered him to... the large hands clenched into fists.

He reminded himself again that he had orders. He would follow those orders expressly right up until the traitor showed his true colors and turned on them. Then... one fist impacted a log support with a thump. Beachhead didn't intend to lose one more teammate to Stormshadow.

Beach had finally eaten a sparse breakfast of oatmeal and toast and gone on his usual run. Then he had spent time in the gym, working out on the machines until it got close to time to head up to run morning PT.

By the time Joes began arriving on the obstacle course, Beach had run through it to check the obstacles and calmed down. He would do his usual duty and do it well. As small groups showed up, he started them out with routine exercises to warm up.

"Reporting for morning PT, Sergeant major."

The calm tones still made Beachhead's neck hair bristle and he forced a calm expression onto his face. He turned and looked at the pair of ninja standing there. He hadn't heard either of them walk up and he abruptly decided it really was more than twice as irritating as when it was just SnakeEyes doing it.

"Two hundred pushups. Double time it cause y'all are late." Beach watched Stormshadow consider objecting that they hadn't been late and decide to just comply. He suspected that SnakeEyes had warned him somehow but without seeing any signal, he ignored it.

The ninja both finished up at about the same time as the rest of the Joes and fell into the normal exercises without showing so much as a bead of sweat. Well, Beach was guessing on SnakeEyes, since he couldn't see any skin to judge sweat but the clothing didn't seem damp. The new ninja wasn't sweating yet either though, and the perfectly clean white gi was making him pleased. Considering the newest mudpits, he doubted it would show even a hint of white by the end of PT.

With the Joes arrayed in neat rows waiting for the next order, Beach eyed the two ninja. There was a distinct gap between Stormshadow and the closest Joe. Tunnelrat looked torn between angering Beachhead by being out of formation and risking standing closer to the former Cobra.

Beachhead was not amused to be judged second behind the threat of Stormshadow. It didn't matter than logic dictated Tunnelrat be right. His shout made the smaller man jump. "Tunnelrat! Pair up with Stormshadow... on the course!" His snapped commands were obeyed quickly but he still saw a slight hesitation on both faces. Tunnelrat was obviously not happy about having to run the course beside the white-clad ninja, but Stormshadow also showed slight concern.

They stood at the starting line and waited. Beach looked Stormshadow up and down and then waved a hand at the course. "Guess we'll see how trained you are." Ignoring Tunnelrat's dismayed expression, he motioned both of them to the starting point. "GO!"

Both of them started off at a sprint. Stormshadow immediately pulled ahead and Tunnelrat dodged to the side to stay away from him. Beach watched the ninja easily swarm over obstacles with ease, while the demolitions expert fell behind, struggling with some of the taller walls as usual. Stormshadow arrived at the end well before the Joe, and began trying to brush the worst of the clinging slimy mud off his gi. As Beachhead suspected, the mudpits and crawls had defeated the white uniform.

When Tunnelrat finally crossed the finish line, Beach strode up. "That was PATHETIC!" He watched Storm cross his arms and smirk at the slower Tunnelrat. Beachhead turned on the former Cobra with some pleasure. "Oughta be easy to understand. Run the course WITH yer partner. You both cross the finish line or neither of you cross the finish line. Gonna be a team member, you better damn well act like one." He inhaled deeply, swallowing back a few comments that would violate Hawk's orders. "Maybe it's everyman fer himself at Cobra... but that AIN'T the way we run things here at Joe." He did put every drop of scorn into his tone. Hawk didn't order him to coddle the bastard. "Team... if'n you ain't got the knowledge of how to be a teammate, you ain't gonna be no damned use here."

Stormshadow was scowling angrily for just a bare second before he composed his face. It was just enough of the expression for Beach to spot. Then the nonchalant attitude came back. "You didn't say I had to hold back for a undertrained recruit." The ninja crossed his arms.

It was a bit of a toss-up as to who was angrier over his insult. Tunnelrat exploded first. "Undertrained? Who the fuck are you to call ME undertrained!? I been bustin' my hump in this Army while you been off galavantin' around working for terrorists! Well, you can kiss my ass!"

Beachhead reined in his own temper and reached to take Tunnelrat by the back of his shirt and drag him backwards a bit. "Settle down!" He eyed the ninja for a moment and saw Stalker walking quickly towards them. Pointing across the grass at Stalker, Beach yelled. "Get back at the start line! Ain't no need of you over here!" His fellow Ranger slowed and paused. "Back! To! The start!" Stalker's face wasn't happy but he turned and headed back. Beach could hear the edges of some loud talking between some of the Joes.

* * *

><p>StormShadow didn't sigh, but he definitely gave off an impression of putting up with foolish requests as he spoke up. "Fine. I can do your little course again, this time waiting for the rodent man here to keep up."<p>

The instructor bristled. "Well let's challenge you." He dug in a pocket. "Since the course is so easy, we should make sure you don't get all bored and such. Trainin' to still move while injured is good. Never know when you might have some severe injury and then what would you be doing?" He tossed a length of cord at the ninja who caught it. "Hands behind yer back, spook."

"You think I'm letting you tie me up? I'm not stupid." Storm seemed on the verge of tossing the cord back but clenched his hand around it instead. "Beside, isn't it unfair treatment for you to require me to be handicapped?"

Beachhead snorted. "Tie yerself up. I ain't stupid enough to think you can't get loose from a simple piece of rope. Pretend you got two broken arms. You need more of a challenge, right?" The trainer's tone went smug. "SnakeEyes can do it. He don't mind more intense training."

StormShadow knew he was being baited. He knew Beachhead was setting him up to look foolish in front of the rest of the team. But some part of his pride wouldn't let him back down, especially if SnakeEyes had done similar exercises. He wouldn't put it past his Clan brother to have indulged in such antics.

One quick glance showed the Joes were watching them from the starting point. Storm listened to them betting on whether he would do the stunt, refuse or lop off Beachhead's head. There was a great deal more Joes that believed he wouldn't do it, a few more betting on violence being done and then the handful that apparently really didn't think he'd do it but wanted to risk money on the good odds. He snorted softly and spun one end of the rope lazily. "Fine."

Beachhead opened his mouth to shout and closed it again. "Fine?"

StormShadow looped the thin rope around one of his wrists. "Fine, as in 'yes' as in 'I'll do it'." He motioned at the course. "Back to the start or from end to beginning?"

Beach's jaw worked for a moment. The ninja made a note that when stymied, the big Ranger had a tendency to chew his tongue while he thought. Then he was waving curtly back towards the starting line. "Fine, back to the start." They all three moved back and Storm looped the end around his second wrist, securing his hands behind himself. "Ah want to see some danged teamwork this time too."

Tunnelrat made a protesting noise and then shut up at the glare from the PT instructor. "Yes, sergeant major."

Beach's glare reduced the waiting Joes to silence. "Ready..." He ignored the pleading look he got from TunnelRat. "..go!"

Both Joes took off from the start line, this time with the ninja keeping back to pace the Joe, although Tunnelrat tried to run as far from Stormshadow as possible without veering off course. The only reason Beachhead didn't facepalm himself watching the disastrous pair was because he refused to give the watching group of Joes the satisfaction.

Stormshadow did a credible job on the course despite the lack of hands. Beachhead frowned watching him run over the A-frame and log walks. He crossed the tightrope so quickly, he wouldn't have noticed the handicap if he hadn't just seen him do it even faster using hands to balance with. The ninja slowed down slogging through the mudpits, although he still outpaced the slightly smaller Tunnelrat.

Tunnelrat seemed determined to show up the ninja who was showing him up. When they hit the half-buried pipe maze, the Joe threw himself into one and squirmed through at top speed. For the first time on the course, he emerged just before Stormshadow. They both hit the net-climb and Tunnelrat scrambled up it while Stormshadow laboriously wriggled and stepped up the netting like a unstable ladder.

Tunnelrat was halfway down the far side when the ninja passed him. "Crap." They both slid under the razor wire crawl, the lack of arms hardly slowing Stormshadow. When they approached the vertical wall, Tunnelrat gathered himself and jumped as hard as he could, determined to make the top on his first try. His fingers grabbed the edge and he dragged himself up to swing a leg over. Perched atop the wall, he could hear Beachhead's screaming for them to take the course faster but he looked down at the ninja with both hands tied behind his back and paused.

Stormshadow stopped for a second and ran at the wall, running up it fairly easily but as he twisted to throw himself over it, it was obvious he would miss and slam back down to the ground. Tunnelrat reached out and grabbed a handful of gi then leaned backwards, pulling both of them over into a heap on the far side.

Stormshadow easily rose to his feet but waited for the Joe to get up as well before he took off running. Both of them approached the rope swing.

Beachhead let a satisfied smile grow under the balaclava. Without using his hands, there was no way for the Cobra turncoat to grab the rope to swing across. He sped up slightly as he paced the two along the course. He was already opening his mouth to yell at the man's failure when he watched the impossible.

Stormshadow sped up and jumped, somehow wrapping his legs around the dangling rope and swinging across most of the pit. His body slung itself upside down to whip him further out before turning loose to complete the twist and land on the very edge of the mudpit. He teetered for a second. Tunnelrat finished his own swing across and knocked into him, making both sprawl on the ground but safely past the sticky mud.

Both men sprinted for the finish line, while Beach gritted his teeth so hard he would later worry about a crack in one molar. "Fuckin' ninja."

As he stomped back up to the starting line, Storm had unwound the rope from his wrists and rolled his shoulders to loosen them. He grinned at the departing instructor and turned to hold out a fist to the Joe. "Well, that certainly took the wind out of his sails... not that he'll be likely to run out of wind anytime soon, right?"

Tunnelrat looked at the offered fist and then back to the smiling face. "Look bub, I might help you on the confidence course, cause that's training and Joes are a team. But don't think that just because you showed up Beach that we're pals." He turned his back deliberately and stepped away to watch some of the other Joes being sent out onto the course by a highly irritated Beachhead.

Stormshadow dropped his hand and then crossed his arms to stand by himself, pretending to watch the others as well. In truth, he was telling himself that he expected this sort of reaction and it wasn't unreasonable for some of the Joes to not greet him with open arms. He glanced down at his muddy gi and made a face. SnakeEyes _had_ warned him that wearing the white uniform would be a bad idea.

Speaking of his Clan brother. Storm watched him run through the course alongside the Joe who was continually taking bets on things. After a second, he came up with the name. 'Ace' was also a pilot, one of the really good pilots. Storm smiled a little as he watched the man making his way rather laboriously through the course. Next to a trained ninja, he appeared to be completely inept, although in truth, he would have beaten most of the Cobra troopers easily.

Unsurprisingly once the pair finished, Beachhead came to yell at them about being incompetent. To Storm's surprise, while most of the ranting was directed at Ace, there was plenty aimed at SnakeEyes as well. The ninja took the shouting in stride and repeated the course again, improving enough to satisfy Beachhead that they didn't need another repeat.

A few of the Joes immediately gathered around Ace, discussing various odds and bets and not a few arguing over details. SnakeEyes sauntered over to stand next to Stormshadow, imitating the corssed-arms stance to watch as LadyJaye took her turn through the course alongside Dusty. The amiable Joe hefted his smaller teammate over a wall but otherwise Jaye did as well as he did. Once they'd finished, Beachhead grunted in a approving tone and went on to shout at the next pair. Storm snorted.

SnakeEyes tilted his head in query. Storm jerked his chin at the pair going to chat with the other Joes and spoke quietly. "He didn't bother to even tell them they did well."

SnakeEyes' hands moved in graceful signs. *He grunted. For Beachhead that's high praise.*

Storm snorted quietly. "Good instructors shouldn't withhold praise." He looked his sword brother over. "You certainly seemed to labor through the course." He smirked under his mask. "Gotten soft and out of conditioning on the Joe team? It's been a long time since the Arashikage compound I guess."

SnakeEyes stiffened up. *Went slower to pace Ace, not out of condition at all* He turned slightly towards the other. *Challenge after everyone else is done?*

Now Stormshadow hesitated. If he beat the Joes' teammate, would they be angry? But if lost, they wouldn't respect him. From his years at Cobra, he knew he had to stay on top. Only the most dangerous men were safe from most retaliations.

Dusty suddenly popped up beside SnakeEyes. "Ninja face-off!" He scurried off to waylay Ace who became the center of a mass of betting.

Storm grumbled to his friend. "I didn't actually accept." At SnakeEyes head tilt, he rolled his eyes slightly. "Well I can hardly back out now. Besides..." He became smug and affected a bored expression. "I simply didn't want to show you up in front of your friends. I mean it's obvious I'm in far better shape." He buffed his fingers on his chest and glanced over to see the little headshake.

*I think your brain went soft* SnakeEyes rolled his shoulders slightly but Storm could tell he wasn't angry or annoyed. As he hoped, the old banter between them was still amusing.

By the time the last pairs were sent through the course, even Beachhead was aware of the betting pool going on. Storm listened in easily. This time the margins were slim, with most of the Joes split between the two ninja. A few opted for larger bets at longer odds on one or the other coming out well ahead, and only a couple weren't betting at all, citing some sort of idea that the contest involving ninja automatically meant they'd somehow negate the entire bet.

SnakeEyes gave a little jerk of his chin and sauntered to the start line. Storm tried to exude an air of confidence as he joined him. Beachhead frowned at both of them. The former Cobra tried to give a genial smile which made the frown deepen even more. "We're only doing extra training... surely you can't disapprove of.."

"Shut up, scrawny. Y'all wanna run the course, run the damned course. Don't damage nothing." Beach crossed his arms. "Let's see what you can do when you're not being all held back by 'undertrained' recruits." He stalked off towards the group of Joes waiting near the finish.

Both ninjas sprinted through the course. To his surprise, Storm struggled to keep up with his clanbrother. The seeming softness and laziness fell away and he found himself just slightly behind him throughout most of the course. He pulled ahead in a couple spots, barely. When they cross the finish, he found himself ever so slightly behind though.

He wanted to fume over it. It was a fair contest and he'd lost and he had no one else to blame however. Telling himself that it was merely that SnakeEyes knowing this course better soothed at his ego a little bit. He would have to train harder. Down deep, he suspected that a lack of time to train in earnest during his time at Cobra was to blame. Perhaps being surrounded by lackeys who did the bare minimum of effort had let him loose his edge after all.

Shaking SnakeEyes' hand, Storm gave a slight bow, which was returned by SnakeEyes. "I will have to challenge you again at a later time, brother." He had to turn to be chastised in a joking manner by Stalker who had bet on him. Dusty stood just behind Stalker, not quite acting friendly, but definitely hovering nearby as if he were deciding to be. Putting on a face full of regret, Storm nodded towards Dusty. "I apologize if you also lost money on me. I suppose I need to train a bit harder." He saw Beachhead coming over and leaned to smirk at SnakeEyes. "Oh look, perhaps we shall get a 'grunt' as well?"

SnakeEyes gave a soft snort and straightened up as Beachhead stepped up to them. Stormshadow turned towards the drill instructor as well, although he very deliberately kept a more casual stance. To his surprise, Beachhead didn't seem impressed by their vastly better time.

"What the fuck was that?!" Beach waved one arm at the course as if that explained his anger. "What in the seven levels of fucking hell was THAT?!"

Trying not to wince at the volume, Storm held up his hands. "We beat everyone's times, what's wrong with that? Shall we do it again even faster for you? Perhaps run it backwards faster?"

Narrowing his eyes, Beach stepped closer. "Don't you sass at me. If y'all can do it that fast now, you weren't putting much effort into it before, now were you? I ain't standing out here asking for half-ass effort, you worthless little..." He swallowed back a word unsaid and finished up with a loud snort of disdain. He stalked away, apparently angry over the fact somehow. Storm could distinctly hear mutters of curse words and 'ninja'.

SnakeEyes waved a hand vaguely. *Don't take it personal, just Beachhead*.

Dusty agreed. "He's never happy and won't be happy with anything _you _do." He shrugged. "You get used to it." He congratulated SnakeEyes over his win and moved off with the rest of the Joes headed back to the Pitt.

Storm watched and looked over at Stalker. "Sooo, how bad is it? Did I endear myself to anyone at all yet?"

Stalker snickered just a little bit. "Well, maybe a little bit to those that just won money on various bets. Otherwise, nope. You'll have to keep working at it." He gave a little smile and clapped the ninja on the shoulder. "It'll happen. Give them time."

Storm returned a small smile. "Thanks for the encouragement." He appreciated Stalker's forgiveness. At least he could count on two people here for support. "Sooo.." They all headed for the motorpool. "How long until Beachhead loves me like a long lost brother?"

Stalker laughed and SnakeEyes gave his odd coughing version of laughter. SnakeEyes replied first. *I think your descendants might get forgiven by him... some day.*

Stalker nodded. "I wouldn't put any money on that though... he's pretty stubborn."

Starting to nod, Storm turned to him, saying jokingly, "Is Ace taking bets on how long it'll take Beach to accept me?"

Stalker nodded easily. "Yeah man, but he had to give five hundred to one odds for anyone to accept a bet."

"That's not exactly encouraging... why such long odds?"

Stalker outright grinned. "Because Joes are too smart to make stupid bets. That's why."

* * *

><p>END CHAPTER<p>

Again, thank you for the reviews. I hope the chapter was fun.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to all my reviewers. I hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER 3

The motorpool was busy as always. Someone always wrecked something, or something coughed up a part or needed maintenance. When things got extra hectic, Clutch would call in a few greenshirts to assist. Most of the greenshirts they got were pleased to work in the motorpool as opposed to many of the other duties they could end up with. Not only were they working on vehicles in a shaded garage(usually) but they also got to work with good-natured Joe mechanics and watch CoverGirl. Well, they could watch CoverGirl in moderation, if she didn't catch them staring inappropriately.

Today she was tearing down the right side treads of a Mauler tank. That involved a crew of three, since the treads were heavy and unruly when it came to being maneuvered around the garage bay.

"Don't let it knock over the worktable!" CoverGirl grabbed at the end of the damaged tread but the weight ripped it out of her grasp. The greenshirt who was supposed to be handling it jumped back. The crash lasted nearly two minutes as all the tools and parts finished clattering across the floor in all directions. "Dammit... dammit... DAMMIT! Why are you even here if you can't do one simple thing!?"

The hapless greenshirt looked terrified. It was possible he was suddenly wishing he'd drawn latrine duty right at this moment. "I'm sorry Corporal CoverGirl! It just did that!" He began scrambling to gather up the tools. "I'll clean it up."

"You do that." Cursing under her breath, CoverGirl pointed at the now exposed gears. "Alright Clutch, let's tear it down."

Clutch grinned and hefted a wrench. "Oh I'd like to tear..."

"Don't." She leveled a finger at him. "Not. In. The mood."

Her expression made him swallow. "I'd like to get all this work done. Very efficiently." He busied himself with loosening bolts immediately before she decided to wield a sizable wrench at his sensitive anatomy.

She glared anyway. "Good. I have enough to deal with outside of this garage. The last thing I need is more crap from a bunch of grunt mechanics."

Clutch hummed as he dragged at a reluctant gear. "Hmmmph. So what's up? Your big bad boyfriend giving you grief? Woman troubles? Men troubles?" He suddenly looked up. "There isn't some greenie giving you trouble, is there? Because if you just don't want to sicc Beach on them, I'll go kick some ass for you."

She smiled and shook her head. "If there were some greenie, I can kick them myself, thank you very much." Hesitating a moment, she pointed at Clutch with a wrench. "Look, this goes no further, but, things are pretty tense with you-know-who on the team now."

He snorted. "Hardly a secret. Half the team thinks he'll kill us all. The other half knows he'll kill us all." He glanced at her greenshirt cleaning up tools. "I imagine Sergeant major isn't too pleased over it either."

"He's taking it very personal. After all, the guy put some of Beach's troops in body bags and we all know how that affects him." She pulled another set of gears out, holding one up to peer closely at it. "Fuck. Look at the chips on these teeth." She held it out to Clutch who whistled. "Yeah, we're just lucky the thing didn't bind up and destroy the whole shebang." She set those aside to continue to dig into the housing well. "I'm going to clean this to the bare metal. Can't risk having any shards of metal floating around in the grease."

He grunted and finished piling the last of the parts up in a heap. "Yeah, I'll check the parts for any other damage." He jerked his chin at a nearby greenshirt. "Bring her a bucket and some rags." Clutch bent to look at the housing she was working on. He spoke quietly. "Don't let StormShadow get you all rattled. He's just one guy. And don't let old Beach get too snarky at you over it. Tell him off. He likes that anyway."

She snorted loudly. "Yeah right. He _loves_ when we argue. Are you just hoping the poor greenshirts will take the worst of the PT that will result?" CoverGirl stopped suddenly. "Clutch? He's not really going to kill anyone, right? I mean, screw the betting pools and jokes. We're not going to wake up and find murdered teammates are we?"

Clutch tried to smile in reassurance but it didn't quite come off as true. "Hey, we just have to trust Hawk and SnakeEyes, right? I mean, Hawk says it's okay." He glanced around the room nervously. "Besides, SnakeEyes would stop him if he started trying to kill Joes."

She took a breath in. "Yeah. Hawk says so and Snakes will keep him in line. No reason to worry at all." She turned back to digging glops of heavy grease out of the gears. Clutch began working on the various parts and gears himself while the greenshirts cleaned up the spilled tools or assisted in whichever way was needed.

As the garage settled into a uneasy day of hard work, there was the softest of rustles in the vent system as someone moved away stealthily.

End chapter


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for all the reviews. I appreciate every one of them. On to more story.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 4<p>

Beachhead sat sulkily in the neat professional offices of one Kenneth Rich. Doctor Kenneth Rich that is. Also known as PsycheOut... or 'the damned shrink' if he wasn't around to hear or if you were Beachhead and didn't care if he heard you.

"Soo, tell me how you're doing." The calm professional tone was soothing and persuasive.

Beachhead answered with a distinctly unprofessional snort. When PsycheOut's eyes narrowed, he reluctantly followed the snort with a spoken reply. "Fine."

Looking unruffled, PsycheOut shuffled some pages about and then sat them in a neat pile. "Well, I've heard that things are a bit tense. Something regarding the newest addition to the team here, perhaps it's causing a little stress and tension?"

Now Beach leaned back scowling. "Ahhh no, nothin' to stress about. Just a murderin' bastard waltzin' around the Pitt like it don't matter who he is or what he's done. Everything is just freakin' peachy. Don't I look like I feel peachy?"

PsycheOut still didn't look upset in the least. He nodded agreeably. "I can understand how you'd be worried. But..."

Beach stood up and interrupted. "But what? SnakeEyes vouches for him? Hawk ordered him to behave? I'm paranoid and we should all be fartin' happiness out of our collective asses because we have a Cobra operative in the Pitt?"

PsycehOut stood as well and indicated the chair. He waited until Beachhead flopped into it again, and ignored when he kicked the battered coffeetable. "Of course you don't have to be happy about it. But you do trust your teammates, right?"

"He ain't my damned teammate."

Now the psychologist took a breath. "I was of course referring to SnakeEyes. He says that StormShadow has turned over a new leaf and he has been a good teammate so far..."

Beachhead grunted again. "He still ain't my teammate."

Pulling out his hole card, PsycheOut steepled his fingers. "Sooo, you're saying although Hawk has ordered you to treat him as a team member... and vouched for him personally... you refuse to follow those orders?"

Sputtering angrily, Beach rose up out of the chair to point across the desk. "Don't you dare say I don't obey orders! You damned desk jockey! I follow my orders! The little bastard don't have no damned bullet holes in him yet, has he?!"

PsycheOut stood again, trying to keep the upper hand in this session. "Just because you haven't attempted to murder him doesn't exactly say that you're following orders to treat him as a teammate."

"Well..." Beach flopped into the chair and returned to sulking. "Gawd damn it. Ah'm trainin' him. He's a damn ninja, ain't like he needs me to teach him much of nothin'." He paused. "Gawddamn ninja."

PsycheOut sat on the arm of the second chair in lieu of behind his desk. "Is that the issue? You think he doesn't need any conditioning so you feel useless or that he's above your level of training?" He watched the glare. "No? Maybe you just want it to be difficult to justify your anger?"

"My anger? My anger is cause we got a guy walkin' around like he owns the place after he murdered some of our guys!" A extra large combat boot hit the coffeetable again. His voice softened. "Ah hate him. Ah hate that he's here."

Leaning forward, the doctor put one hand on a tense arm. "You're frustrated and that's understandable. Your feelings are normal." His hand was brushed aside as the Sergeant major got up. "It's perfectly normal to have..."

Beach interrupted. "Look head-shrink, one day even you'll have to admit, ain't nothin' about this damn unit that fits the word 'normal'." He glanced at the wall clock then pointed at it. "Time's up. Ah'm goin' to eat." Scooping up his balaclava he headed for the door.

PsycheOut tried a last salvo. "Technically you were five minutes late so I should say you need to stay another.."

"Ehhh bite me." Beachhead slammed the door behind him as he left.

Gathering up his file, PsycheOut glanced over the notes before he tucked them all into the folder. If he were honest with himself, he would be pleased that the Ranger hadn't melted down and needed to be tossed into a holding cell to cool down. He'd been insisting on frequent sessions, which served mainly to annoy Beachhead and not so incidentally, distract him from brooding on the new ninja. If he was complaining to the team psychologist about StormShadow, he wasn't following said ninja around, nor stirring up any other Joes against him.

Scribbling down a last few sentences, he put away the file in the stack on his desk. So far Beachhead was eight-for-eight in stomping out of the office. He didn't mind in the least. In fact, he smugly glanced at the door, it gave his patient a sense of having won the round, making him at least slightly better in attitude. Suddenly PsycheOut frowned and walked over to look at the door hinges.

"Damn." He fingered the split in the wood. Good for the Ranger but definitely hard on the furnishings. He opened the door a few times, watching the split gape open slightly each time. He grimaced and jerked his chin at his greenshirt assistant. "Call maintenance up and tell them I need another new doorjamb."

"Yessir." His greenshirt didn't look at all surprised. With the number of annoyed, stressed and rather oversized Joes that exited the office on a regular basis, replacing doors wasn't unusual.

* * *

><p>Scarlett left the chowline with her tray of food and started towards their usual table. She stopped short when she noticed StormShadow already seated there with Stalker and SnakeEyes. All three were apparently discussing something. Even SnakeEyes' signing was more exaggerated than normal. Stalker was practically animated, at least... for Stalker.<p>

She narrowed her eyes and tried to start towards the table. She could sit there and not snipe at the guy who had kidnapped and threatened her. She would even pretend to be civil. Her gaze traveled around the room and stopped at a hulking body splitting it's attention between a tray of food and the table in the corner. Both items were getting serious glares, although to Scarlett's mind, the food certainly didn't deserve it.

Seating herself across from Beachhead, she nodded at him in greeting. "Beach."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you want?" His eyes flicked back to check the table of ninja then back to her.

She rolled her eyes. "Why I'm fine Beach, thanks for asking." She began shaking salt and pepper over her food. "I thought perhaps you would like some company while you eat dinner."

His eyes flicked over again. He started to speak, but then looked at her and then back to the table. "You don't wanna sit with them."

She grumped loudly. "Shut up."

He snorted loudly back at her. "Well it's yer boyfriend vouchin' for him. You might as well go cozy up to the damn Cobra too."

Scarlett looked at him until she saw the corner of his eye twitch slightly. "You really want to go there, Beach? Because I'm just in the mood to deal with you mouthing off at me about stuff."

Beachhead shifted his weight, deciding whether to get angry or back down. Since he had precious few people completely on his side regarding Stormshadow, he shrugged one shoulder up. "Ah could pull rank on you, but.. considering the excessive amounts of stress..." Scarlett rolled her eyes as she saw the eye crinkle that said he was attempting to joke with her. "... Ah'm inclined to give you benefit of a doubt here."

"Well thanks so much for that, Sergeant major Beachhead." They ate for a few minutes, both of them keeping a part of their attention on the corner table. "Sooo, how are things?"

He grunted at her. "Peachy. Everything's just fuckin' peachy." He looked at her a moment. "How's things with you?"

She grinned despite herself. "Fuckin' peachy, Sergeant major." He let out a short snort of laughter. "Things are tense. I can't believe that Snakes trusts the guy so much."

His eyes went back to the table. "Stalker told me, Snakes still remembers the guy he served with and the young man who invited him into his family clan and that memory overrides all the recent stuff." His frown deepened anyway. "I didn't know that guy. I just see the man who stabbed some good folks to death." His hand went to his shoulder. "Hell, he stabbed me more than once."

Scarlett grumbled. "Yeah, well, I had to watch Snakes getting patched up over and over. Then the guy kidnapped me and held me in chains." She gave the Ranger a smirk. "At least I bit him. And nearly took out his kneecap."

Beach gave her a look. "Are we gonna have a pissin' contest over who has a bigger grudge against the bastard?"

She smiled at the idea. "No, let's just both hate him equally." When her dinner companion grunted in agreement she stabbed at her dinner a few times. "He's a Ranger you know." She watched the eye twitch a few times. "Well, he was a Ranger anyway."

"Shut up. Snakes and Stalker might insist he's a Ranger and they might trust him, but that just makes me think they ain't got good judgment." He grumped into his glass of milk, oblivious of Scarlett bristling at his comment.

"SnakeEyes has good judgment." Her voice was hard. "He's very smart and has good instinct for things."

Beachhead eyed her warily. "Then why ain't you over there cuddlin' up to his long lost trustworthy brother ninja?"

Now it was her time to grump. "Well it's... I mean.." Puffing out a breath, she stirred the bits of mashed potatoes around her plate a moment. "I trust Snakes' judgment. I just... I don't want to trust Stormshadow." She glared across the room. "I don't like him hanging out with SnakeEyes all the time either."

Beachhead watched the table a moment. "You sound jealous." When she bristled again, he continued. "Ain't surprising. Your ninja is probably spendin' most of his free time with StormShadow. After all, he's gotta show all the Joes how much he trusts the guy. Maybe that don't leave time for you." His calculating gaze watched her grow sullen.

She pushed her food aside. "Yeah well..." She suddenly stood up and snatched the tray up. "Well I have work to do. If other people want to waste their day sitting around chatting up old times, that's on them."

Beachhead watched her go out of her way to stride angrily past the table in question. She didn't even glance at the occupants or she would have seen that no one seemed to even notice her display of annoyance. Pity. As angry as the redhead was, it might have erupted into a shouting match.

He finished his own dinner, watching the table still chatting. Then he got up and left, humming to himself as he did so. He never noticed one ninja tilting his head to watch out of his peripheral vision.

* * *

><p>END CHAPTER<p>

Again, thank you for any reviews. I like to hear if you like a fic, or don't like it. Coming up soon is the poker match.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you for the reviews. Now, what's Stormshadow been thinking and what sort of advice will he get?

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 5<p>

Stormshadow stood in front of Duke's desk, looking disgruntled. "I have been trying to get along. No one likes me."

Duke leveled a look at him. "You've been intimidating half the Joes and lurking about in the shadows. You have to make more of an effort." He walked back and forth a bit. "Besides, it's not true that no one likes you. Some of the Joes are coming around."

Storm gave a half nod. "A few. Almost none."

"Has anyone tried to shoot you?"

"That's hardly a measure of people liking a person."

Duke smiled a little. "Well, you've got to lower your standards a little bit. You did kill and wound some of our guys. It takes time to get over that sort of thing." He stopped pacing. "I'm sure you're over-estimating the number of Joes that still dislike you."

The ninja gave him a scathing look. "I've heard them say it. Everyone from the motorpool to the server level is either loathing my existence or planning on how to die when I decide to turn on you."

"Oh come now." Duke waved a hand around. "It's not as if you've heard each Joe say they hate you."

"Enough. The motorpool is taking bets on how long until I murder people. People in the messhall can barely swallow their meal when I'm there. They whisper to each other about me. Beachhead hates me and ..." StormShadow took a breath.

Duke interrupted. "Beach doesn't actually hate you, he just isn't happy about things you've done..."

"He told PsycheOut he hates me." Storm crossed his arms. "My hearing is much too good to mistake something said clearly and in earnest."

Duke tilted his head. "How do you know that he told PsycheOut that?"

StormShadow explained again slower. "I heard him tell him." When Duke still obviously didn't understand. "I was in the vent system. Listening."

Now Duke looked horrified. "You were what? In the..." He looked up at the ceiling. "In the _air vents_ eavesdropping on private psychiatric sessions? Why!?"

"Because I want to know what people are saying and they don't tend to be as forthcoming when I'm standing in the room in plain view." The ninja was explaining it slowly. "Just like listening to the mechanics, the messhall, the laundry crew, the computer techs.."

"Wait... wait wait..." Duke held up one hand while pinching the bridge of his nose in the other. "First, don't eavesdrop on private conversations. Just... don't. And second, don't crawl around in the air vents."

Storm protested. "How am I supposed to know what people are plotting behind my back if I don't?"

"No one is plotting against you. No eavesdropping." Duke was being firm.

Attempting to look innocent, Storm held up his hands. "But I do happen to have the Ear That Sees, I hear things, I cannot turn off my ears."

Duke's responded with a wry tone. "You can keep your Ear That Sees out of the Vents that Lead to People. I mean it. Eavesdropping on a private counseling session is a huge breach of privacy and you know that."

Snorting and giving in now, Storm crossed his arms. "Fine. But I can't help overhearing people."

"Well try to ignore it. You knew this wasn't going to be easy. I can't order people to be happy about you. Keep pouring on the charm like I've seen you doing..." Duke ignored the weak protest, "...and try to look like a regular guy and not a scary stabby ninja, okay?"

Storm gave him shrug but smiled while doing so. "I'll try to look as helpless as a kitten." He left after waiting to be dismissed.

Duke tucked away a few files before finding his bottle of aspirin. "Helpless as a kitten... only if the kitten was constructed by MARS to have built in lasers and can throw toothpicks at lethal speeds." He looked at the door a moment. "I sure hope Hawk knows what he's doing."

* * *

><p>Fresh from his reprimand in Duke's office, StormShadow went to the rec room that most of the Joes preferred. Before he was halfway down the hallway he identified Stalker's distinctly soft tones as he chatted in a one-sided conversation. So when he stepped in the doorway, he expected to see SnakeEyes in the room as well.<p>

Stalker waved him over to the corner, shoving a pile of magazines aside to free up a chair. Storm settled into it uneasily. He would have preferred to sit in a corner facing the entire room, but the corners were occupied by other Joes. At the moment there was a group at the tv, ridiculing the cast and plot of a bad movie while eating popcorn. Another group was passing around some sports magazines and apparently arguing over which of their favorite teams had a shot at the title. The table on the far side of the room was hosting a poker game between Ace, Dusty, Shipwreck and Outback, with Shipwreck apparently losing badly. After he'd identified the last handful of people reading in various spots around the room, he turned to answer Stalker.

"Duke wasn't much help. In fact, he reprimanded me just because I have better abilities than the rest of you." He heard the sulky tone in his voice and tried to sound normal. "Apparently hearing things other people say is frowned upon on this base."

Stalker raised one eyebrow and tilted his magazine over to show SnakeEyes something in an ad. "Well that all depends on what sorts of things you been overhearing, and how hard you was trying to overhear them." He watched SnakeEyes waggling his hand in a 'so-so' motion. "What do you mean? That's a nice knife! Average? It's excellent!"

SnakeEyes shrugged. *Too expensive, cheap steel*

Storm craned his head to see the page, so Stalker showed him the ad as well. "He's right, cheap steel. The company CEO changed three years ago and they started sourcing cheap ore. And what do you mean, 'how hard I tried to overhear'? I can hear things you can't. The Ear That Sees means private conversations sound like they're right in my ear." He pointed at another ad in the magazine. "That's the same company by the way. They merged eight months ago."

Stalker frowned at the page. "But.. damn it. Fine. Anyway..." He flipped through several pages idly. "Where was your ears when you was overhearing things?" He gave Storm a significant look. "I know that sneaking around to overhear things is second nature to you but, here on base, it's a no-no."

SnakeEyes signed as well. *Especially when you are showing how trustworthy you are*

StormShadow looked bewildered. "Why? Doesn't everyone keep track of conversations around them? I always check the intentions of people on base."

Before Stalker could object again, SnakeEyes held up a hand then signed. *Ninja* He shrugged apologetically to his friend before turning to Storm. *Being sneaky is being suspicious. If you are caught eavesdropping in an air vent, you are untrustworthy*.

Storm nodded slowly, mulling over the idea. "I see. When they know I've been lurking around when they don't know I'm there, it's unnerving and makes them worry that I'll murder them or steal their things?" Both of his friends nodded at him. "Ahh, now it makes sense. I will be more careful not to be caught."

Stalker facepalmed himself but SnakeEyes agreed. Since he couldn't think of a better way to explain it right then, Stalker settled for insisting that neither eavesdrop on private sessions in the shrink's office. Pointing out that neither would care for their teammates knowing what was said in there during their own sessions made them both agree, albeit reluctantly on the part of StormShadow.

"It's really the best place to learn the truth of how people feel.. ooh fine then. I won't try to listen in there." Storm sighed. "You make me feel like I'm confined to quarters.. don't crawl around in the air vents, don't stand in the shadows where people don't see me... don't hide under furniture... don't hang from the ceilings..."

"Just try to mostly be a regular person... pretend you're undercover or something, Tommy." Stalker said.

Stormshadow smiled. "You called me by name."

Stalker nodded slowly after a moment. "Yeah well... I guess things are okay between us." He pointed a finger at him. "But you have to make nice with the other Joes. This isn't Cobra, where you can just stab a grunt every couple of weeks and get everyone to respect you."

"I know that!" Storm grumbled slightly. "Besides, Beachhead will never forgive me if I start poking holes in his precious green squads."

"Greenshirts. And no. He won't." Stalker's attention turned to his watch suddenly. "Almost time for my shift, I'm on nights the rest of the week." He folded up the magazine and handed two others to SnakeEyes. "Don't lose that one, I'm not done with it."

SnakeEyes made a gesture of innocence that simply made Stalker shake his head. As their friend left, SnakeEyes signed to StormShadow. *Tell me how you will win the Joes to be your friends*

Storm grunted. "I'll just be my winning self and everyone will adore me in no time." He glanced up and then sighed. "I don't know. I haven't exactly been in the habit of trying to make friends lately. Especially not with people I was trying to chop up only a few months ago." He shrugged. "I'll just keep trying to be nice and try not to stab anyone and sooner or later they will tolerate me."

Across the room, Outback was getting up. "No guys, I gotta go on duty, I'm gonna be late." Shipwreck objected more and he held up his hands helplessly. "Not my fault you lose so much. Get someone else to play." He gathered a handful of something off the table and sauntered out.

Ace groaned. "Just when I was getting some hot cards! Hey, who wants to sit in?" He looked around the room. No one seemed inclined to jump up from what they were doing however.

SnakeEyes reached out and nudged his friend, pointing over towards the table. When Storm feigned confusion, he signed. *Go play poker*

"Are you joking? Isn't gambling against the rules anyway?" Storm settled deeper into the chair, picking up a magazine to open it and pretend to read. "Why would I want to go play cards?"

SnakeEyes took the magazine out of his hands easily. *Make friends. Play poker* He paused just a few seconds. *Don't cheat*

"I would never..." Storm paused. "I really can't say that with a straight face. Why don't _you_ go play?" He tried to retrieve the magazine without success.

*They don't like me to play. Mask gives no clues* SnakeEyes held the magazine out of reach and tilted his head towards the table a few times. *And don't win too much*

Storm groaned. "They won't let me play. But just to humor you..." He got to his feet and walked slowly towards the table, making certain he didn't slink along noiselessly or look murderous. He stopped near the table. He began to think of how many reasons that this idea was a bad one. But... it was too late now to back out.

END CHAPTER

* * *

><p>I know, I know. But NEXT chapter is the infamous poker scene. It was such a long chapter that I felt like I had to break it off, or it would be way too long. But the next chapter is indeed a poker game. And hey, I gave you some SnakeEyes.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Finally, the infamous poker scene! It is a bit of a long chapter, seeing as a game of poker apparently lasted far longer than I originally anticipated. I apologize for the wait.

* * *

><p>Stormshadow stood quietly, thinking harmless peaceful thoughts and hoped that no one would attempt to shoot him. The Joes chatted among themselves another half minute before Dusty suddenly noticed him standing right beside him and jumped out of his chair, tangling his feet in Shipwreck's chair and falling over. "Are you okay?"<p>

Dusty scrambled to his feet and notably did not run away. He brushed himself off, patted his pockets, straightened his headgear, patted his pockets and brushed himself off again before he swallowed and replied. "No no, I'm fine. It's okay. Don't stab me."

"I'm not going to stab you, Dusty. We're friends now, remember? I hardly _ever_ stab my friends." He looked at the other two nervous Joes. "Would it be okay if I played cards?" He tried to look harmless.

Dusty righted his chair and hesitantly settled back into it. He concentrated on arranging small piles of what looked like candy, pretzels and some cans in front of him. "You really want to play cards? I didn't know ninjas played cards."

Storm shrugged. "It seems... fun." He tried a charming smile. "Besides, it will be a grand opportunity to get to know some of my new teammates, right?" He motioned to the empty chair. "So?"

Shipwreck scooted his own chair slightly further away. "Well, no cheating and no stabbing no one if you lose and... uhh.. no stabbing no one if you win neither." Storm settled into the chair. "Hey, you're gonna have to ante up some chips, matey. No freebies."

Dusty suddenly divided up his candies and dumped them in front of StormShadow. "Here, I'll spot you tonight. But next time you gotta bring your own ante." He paused and then counted out a few Hershey kisses and dropped those into Storm's pile as well.

Storm looked at the refined sugar treats and swallowed back a half dozen comments about the empty calories and damage pure sugar did on the human body. It was obvious that they were first, just markers for the poker game and second, prized by the soldiers just like all other soldiers he'd ever served with. "Thank you. I shall pay you back." He neatly arranged the candies, surreptitiously copying how Dusty arranged his. "So what are we playing?"

Ace had been shuffling the cards and finally spoke up. "Five card stud, jokers wild, hard candy ante. No cheating." His pile of candies was a bit larger than Dusty's had been. Shipwreck's hoard was pitifully tiny compared to either of theirs. "No eating the chips, Shipwreck!"

A green parrot was waddling on the table making off with a pretzel stick. "Awk! Polly gets a chip!"

Shipwreck grabbed the bird and stuck it back onto his shoulder. "Come on Polly, you're eatin' my profits!"

"AWK! Like you win any profits! Awk awk!" Polly shut up and nibbled at the pretzel stick held in her foot. Suddenly she stuck her head out towards Storm. "Bad ninja! Bad NINJA!"

Shipwreck reached up and pinched the bird's beak shut. "Polly doesn't mean nothing by that. She's just a dumb bird, you know. Don't kabob her."

Stormshadow looked at the bird a moment. "Doesn't it... relieve itself on you?"

Shipwreck tilted his head. Ace spoke up. "He means does it shit on you, 'Wreck."

The sailor drew himself up. "Of course not! Well, unless she's mad at me." His hand went up to scratch behind the parrot's head gently.

"Well then..." Storm couldn't think of anything nice to say about a pet that pooped on you 'sometimes'. "Ace, would you like to deal out some cards?"

* * *

><p>An hour later, Storm's pile was much smaller, Ace's was much larger, Dusty was about the same level and Shipwreck was practically gleeful with his larger pile. Ace passed out cards around the table, his practiced movements casual. "Okay, four and five for you... and ante up." He tossed a small peppermint into the center of the table.<p>

Everyone rummaged for hard candies to put in and Storm carefully arranged his cards. This time he had drawn three nines, a nice hand and he carefully used thumb and forefinger to nudge the outer card into place just a smidge, letting the corner of his mouth tighten just a hair. He knew Ace had easily picked up on the repeated motions that told the experienced gambler that he had a good set of cards. Most people would have some sort of little ticc that would show when they were pleased or unhappy with the cards. The ninja was a highly trained individual however and his facial expressions were just as under control as his throwing arm. No ninja would want to telegraph to an opponent whether he was going to move or not.

He watched his teammates examining their cards and making commentary to each other. Dusty always leaned just a little to his left if he had good cards, most likely due to him relaxing and he was right-handed so he'd naturally lean to the left. Ace was much harder. If Storm didn't know better, he'd believe the pilot was deliberately giving off tells that were false, just to throw him off. But his heartbeat sped up when he had a particularly good hand of cards. Ace really was addicted to gambling, it wasn't just a joke. Then, there was Shipwreck...

"Oh Lord above! Help me with some _good_ cards some time!" Shipwreck rather theatrically raised his hands towards the ceiling. "I'm _dying_ here!" Storm was rather enjoying the overblown acting from the sailor.

"Awk, dying sailor, dying sailor!" Polly was still present, eying the ninja in white on occasion, usually from around Shipwreck's ever-present hat. She had eaten a few more poker markers, despite the half-hearted attempts to stop her from stealing them off the table.

Ace sighed heavily. "Okay Shakespeare, you in or out?"

Shipwreck looked wounded as he fingered his pile of candy. "I bet one..." He tossed in a hard candy. Dusty followed by chucking in his own hard candy without comment.

Storm made a point of looking at his cards and then put a candy in before picking up two more. "I see your one and raise you two more." He noted Jaye and Flint leaving the room and Mutt and Junkyard entering and joining the sports chatter. That is, Mutt joined the chatter and Junkyard began begging for treats.

Ace gathered up candies in the meantime. "I'll see your bet and raise you... " He rummaged in his mixed pile. "A lollipop."

Dusty perked up. "Is that a blowpop?" He plucked up the required candies and found a regular lollipop. "I call. I love blowpops."

Shipwreck waved his cards at the pile before tucking them in close to his chest again. "Hey, you can't match a blowpop with a regular generic lollipop."

"They're both pops." Dusty seemed determined.

"Well yeah but blowpops are better." Shipwreck was just as determined. Storm had noticed that arguing over the merits of various markers was apparently just as much a part of the game as the actual cards.

"Then call and win both of them, Squidhead." Dusty wasn't budging.

Shipwreck peeked at his own cards and calculated. Then he rolled his eyes and moaned. "Oh fine... I'll throw away my stash here!" He dug out candy markers to chuck into the pile. "Storm?"

Now the ninja eyed his opponents before adding to the pot. "I call." He adjusted the end card in his hand again.

Ace eyed him in return. "Okay, dealer takes two cards." He matched actions to words. Dusty took one card and then went back into his telltale slight slouch again so the card at least didn't hurt anything. Shipwreck groaned and made a big deal over not wanting any cards because "nothing could possibly help this hand". Polly had cackled to herself.

"Two cards." Storm discarded his two non-matching cards and was surprised to get a fourth nine. He put it with the other three, carefully adjusting that end card and letting his mouth tell Ace and Dusty(he wasn't certain if Shipwreck would notice a giant blinking sign to be truthful) that he was pleased with the cards.

Ace called and Dusty took another glance at his cards before he folded, glaring at Ace and Shipwreck before looking at the blowpop he wouldn't win now. Shipwreck rolled his head around on his neck a little and finally called.

Storm called and waited smugly. Shipwreck put his cards down. "Flush!" His face fell a bit when Storm spread his four nines out. "Dang it..."

"Sailor's a loser, sailor's a loser! Awk!" Polly commented happily.

Ace waited a few seconds before flipping his cards over with just a bit of a flourish. He had been hiding a neat set of four queens and grandly collected the entire pot. "Thank you all for your contributions." He smiled at the card players.

StormShadow glanced towards the hall entrance for a second. Ace looked as well and then gave a questioning look towards the ninja. "What?"

"Beachhead is coming." Storm rearranged his candy tokens, telling himself that the Ranger wouldn't make any sort of scene in the rec room. Maybe not.

Ace was still looking at the doorway. "No, he's not. He's on patrol duty." He waited then turned back to the ninja. "See? No Beachhead."

"He's just turning into the end of the hallway." Storm gazed neutrally at the pilot. "I can hear him, he's stomping a bit, so he's angry... or... he's just being Beachhead. I'm not quite familiar with how often he stomps."

Shipwreck was looking at the ninja and then the door. "Beach stomps pretty often cause Beach is mad pretty often. But... you can hear him all the way down the hall? There's carpet."

"Of course." Storm sat up straight. "Are we going to play again?"

Ace shuffled the cards in his hands idly. "You're pulling our legs, you really can't hear..."

Beachhead stomped into the doorway and snapped irritably. "MUTT! Front and center!"

The dog handler got up from the couch, looking curiously. "Yeah Sergeant major?"

Beach jerked a thumb towards the hall behind himself. "Need you on the fenceline. Order cut his paw on something." He glared around the room and his eyes stopped on the white gi. Storm could see the cloth around the mouth wrinkle slightly as he sneered. "Ain't stabbin' no one over cards, are ya?"

"Not yet, Sergeant major." Storm kept his tone polite. "You could check back in another hour though. Polly keeps trying to eat my poker money."

"Polly is innocent! Awk!" The bird fluffed it's feathers up then settled them. "Bad ninja!"

There was a smatter of uneasy laughter and the Ranger growled and snapped at Mutt again. "Get Junkyard outa the couch cushions and get on the fenceline." His eyes fastened onto Storm's. "Some of us gotta work."

Storm knew he shouldn't needle the man, he was trying to win him over. Snarking at him was only going to antagonize the Ranger. "We all appreciate you keeping the vicious jackrabbits outside the fence for us, Beachhead."

The glare returned at a impressive level. "You aimin' fer trouble, spook? Ah'm in the mood to hand you some damned trouble."

Storm blinked innocently. "Trouble? Me? Of course not, Sergeant major Beachhead. I would never want trouble, Sergeant major Beachhead."

Another snort and the Ranger followed the dog and handler back out. Storm listened carefully to the heavy footfalls until the elevator doors closed. "He is such a cheery fellow. Always brightens up the room when he arrives." He smiled pleasantly as Ace began dealing out cards again.

Ace snorted. "Yeah, he's a ray of freaking sunshine." After a second of dealing cards, he glanced at Storm's face. "He's our Sergeant major though." The tone said that grumpy Beachheads still ranked over ex-Cobra ninjas, even if they were witty.

"Of course. All due respect to Sergeant major." Storm picked up his cards to begin carefully arranging them. "He once put a bullet into my leg, you know. He did surprise me with how fast he is, for a large man, you know."

Ace had frozen in place, his eyes wary. "Well, you were on the other side then."

"Of course. I wouldn't expect him to very well shoot me now." Storm continued to fuss with his cards, trying to figure out what he said wrong. "I'm just saying, I didn't expect for him to be that fast, so I'm giving him a compliment. Not many people manage to shoot me." He mused for a second. "Well, he was sort of across a pitched hand-to-hand battle, so I was a bit occupied.. but still. It counts."

Ace exchanged a glance with Dusty. "Okaaay... and we're not going to try to take any revenge on Beachhead for shooting you then, right?"

"Of course not." Storm was irritated. "I'm not holding a grudge." He huffed slightly. "If anything, he's holding a grudge."

Dusty became distinctly nervous. "Calm down... no one is holding a grudge. I don't have a grudge, Ace, you don't have a grudge... right Ace?" The pilot shook his head.

Shipwreck was moving his cards around, seemingly oblivious to the tension. "Well I hold a grudge. Ace won three cans of YoJoe cola off me last week and I want 'em back. Let's play cards." He looked around. "What? Stormy here can worry about stabbing Beachhead later on." The sailor gazed at him placidly. "Try not to stab him until Thursday, okay? I got Thursday on the betting pool."

Storm watched him sitting there advising him, a truly deadly ninja, to stab one of his teammates. "You're insane."

Shipwreck said, "You wear white clothes a lot."

That made the ninja blink in confusion. "What's that got to do with it?"

"What? I thought we were having a 'state the obvious' contest. Did I win? I like winning." Shipwreck unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into his mouth. His parrot nibbled on his ear and he handed her another pretzel stick. "Well? Are we playing poker or what?"

Ace gathered his cards quietly. "Sure."

Dusty picked up his own cards slower, still watching Storm warily. "Yeah. As long as everyone is cool..."

Shipwreck snorted at the nervous trooper. "Do you need a fern Dusty? I can go find you one."

Storm gave a little snort of laughter before he controlled himself. "Sorry."

Dusty looked sheepish. "That's really not funny."

Everyone began putting in candies. Ace eyed the desert trooper. "Maybe it's a little funny."

"Not funny at all." Dusty frowned at the pilot.

Stormshadow reached into his pile of candy and pulled out a blowpop. "Here, this will make it up to you." He tossed the lollipop over.

"Yeah like a piece of candy makes up for years of OOOoo! It's a grape one, my favorite!" Dusty had it unwrapped and in his mouth before Ace could object.

"Stop eating the chips!"

* * *

><p>By the end of the evening, Storm had managed to lose most of his stash, slowly so it wasn't too obvious. Shipwreck wouldn't notice unless it was written out in sharpie marker. Dusty was too busy being suspicious of the least little twitch or gesture. But Ace was sharp. The pilot watched him constantly.<p>

The ninja was also highly aware of the rest of the Joes in the room. While some didn't seem to pay attention at all, others were keeping their eyes on the poker table. A few quiet bets were made, mostly that he would start a fight over the game and stab someone, a few that he would somehow steal the pot. A very small number stayed focused on him and watched closely for any hint of trouble.

Scarlett had entered the room warily, noted him playing poker and seemingly oblivious to the rest of the Joes and settled in happily with SnakeEyes. They'd spent most of the evening looking at magazines and catalogs, chatting about common mundane subjects mostly. Storm decided the woman wanted her boyfriend to herself more. He smiled a little. Well, he hadn't gotten to speak to his clanbrother in years, so she would just have to be patient.

Ace gathered the cards up one last time. "Okay, I'm out for the night. PT comes too early in the morning for me to stay up to all hours of the morning here." He offered the deck to Dusty who shook his head and stretched. "Alright. Same time next week?"

Dusty yawned widely and nodded. "Yeah. Bring blowpops next time."

Ace snorted at him. "Why? So you can eat the markers all night? I swear to God I'm going to start playing with licorice so you guys won't screw up the count." He looked at Storm. "You can play next week if you want. But bring your own markers."

And just like that, Storm won another Joe over, at least enough to not completely hate him. He was pretty certain he could count Shipwreck as well, although he might have to discount Polly.

The parrot had snuck down the sailor's arm to snatch up one of Stormshadow's pretzel sticks. "Bad ninja" she mumbled around her prize as she scrambled back up to the dubious safety of Shipwreck's hat.

Standing up himself, Storm gave a nod to Ace and shipwreck and pushed the remnants of his loot over to Dusty. "Pay back for loaning me it to start with. Thank you." He wandered over to SnakeEyes and Scarlett. "Well..."

SnakeEyes gestured. *See? Making friends is not hard*

Storm tilted his head. "Yes, three down and two thousand to go."

Scarlett snorted. "Not quite two thousand."

"I was of course being facetious."

SnakeEyes coughed softly. *You were being melodramatic. Sit*

Scarlett's body posture tensed up but she didn't raise any objection to his joining them. Storm decided in a fit of whimsy to count that as a small victory as well. "Melodramatic, see how he treats me, Scarlett?"

She snorted and went back to looking at a magazine without comment. After considering it a few seconds, Storm decided to take that as a point in his favor because if she didn't banter back, at least she didn't make a nasty remark either.

"Tonight has been a good night." He decided that cutting the evening short would be a good ending. "I think I shall get some extra rest. I'm certain that our erstwhile drill instructor will attempt once again to run me into the ground very early tomorrow morning. Extra sleep might make that more tolerable."

He was already out of the chair when Scarlett spoke up without looking. "Well, you'd best learn to tolerate it. He's just training you to be part of the team." Her voice was sharp and just a little sulky, and Storm felt a little put out that she would ruin his good streak.

"Yes well.." He took a breath and discarded the retorts on the tip of his tongue. This Joe above all others he needed to win over. SnakeEyes might still consider him a clanbrother but with his lover set against Storm, things would remain tense. "Good night Scarlett."

SnakeEyes gestured smoothly. *Good night* He would be in the room later, the two ninja still sharing quarters although Stormshadow had been assured that would be temporary. As long as he proved trustworthy, they would assign him different quarters soon. He didn't want to misstep, not yet.

He left, listening to the murmurs and chatter that started as soon as he stepped through the doorway. As he walked further down the hallway, he picked up several talking about him and what he had or had not done during the evening. He heard Dusty's distinct voice defending him with a pointed 'He hasn't stabbed anyone in days and days... that's good, at least.'

He'd take what he could get.

* * *

><p>END CHAPTER<p>

Well? Was it worth the wait? Readers loved, reviewers adored.


	7. Chapter 7

Massive apologies to all for the lateness of the posting of new chapters. I'm immersed in chaos. I'll try to do better. I also have to apologize for not responding to the reviews posted by the most gracious and wonderful folks who have reviewed the story. I promise, I'll try to do better.

Also, I'm very glad the poker scene was as much fun to read as it was to write!

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

Beachhead was finally getting off duty and was feeling exceptionally grumpy. Not only was it late, but once again, he'd gotten snarked at by the off duty spook. As he signed off on the duty log and nodded at LowLight coming on duty for the wee hours of the morning, he heard Mutt talking to DialTone and stepped a little closer.

Mutt was nodding emphatically. "No way dude, that ninja could hear someone way down the hallway. He's got ears better than Junkyard."

DialTone didn't seem to believe it. "No one has ears better than a dog's."

"Well he does. Stalker said he's got some sort of super sensitive hearing and it means he can hear what you say from way far away so you'd better keep your opinions quiet unless he ain't anywhere around, you know what I mean?" Mutt bent to scratch Junkyard behind his ears. "At least if Junk overhears folks, he don't take it personal."

"Yeah well... sign the log. I'll keep all that in mind." DialTone obviously still wasn't buying it and Beachhead moved on.

If the spook had super hearing, then Beach was going to have to re-evaluate what he said and where he said it. Not that he cared if the man overheard him saying he didn't trust or like him... he'd said that often enough to his face. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. He was tired and hungry and the messhall was probably closed down. He headed that direction anyway.

While rummaging through the refrigeration units for food, Beachhead mulled it over. If Stormshadow had such good hearing than he could eavesdrop on previously secure conversations. He'd have to keep an eye on where the ninja was hanging out and if he went to the admin levels often. It would be like Cobra to insert a operative that could overhear top secret intel from another room.

Once he'd built himself a sandwich of leftovers, he settled at a table in the deserted messhall to eat it. The kitchens really didn't appreciate soldiers helping themselves but then the shifts that ended at this time of night/morning needed to eat too. He ignored the fact that packaged snacks were available in the rec rooms. If he wanted a snack, he wouldn't be in the kitchens. Besides, he didn't exactly leave a mess just getting himself a sandwich made.

A slight noise in the hallway made him stuff the last of the sandwich into his mouth. Technically he was authorized to be wherever on the base he felt the need to be. In reality, he really really tried not to piss off the cook staff. The noise wasn't repeated and he decided whoever it was had walked past. Putting away the evidence of his late night raid, he headed off for a shower and to get some sleep. He'd think about ninja snooping ears later.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning, Beach was harassing the Joes through the regular PT routine. Stormshadow was standing as usual near SnakeEyes, although this morning Dusty had chosen to stand to the ex-Cobra's other side. Beach narrowed his gaze at Dusty when he strode past them. The glare made Dusty squirm a bit but there wasn't any regulation or rule against standing next to the teammate they'd all been ordered to tolerate. Since Beachhead had already punished Tunnelrat for NOT staying next to the man, he could hardly yell at Dusty over it now.<p>

Grumpily, he sent a trio of Joes out onto the course and turned on the ones waiting to send them to the ground for pushups. Spacing the calisthenics through the obstacle course time gave the troops fewer opportunities to play pranks or talk. Speaking of talking in the ranks...

Whirling and stomping over to Dusty, Beachhead pitched his voice into a scream right next to the trooper's ear. "DID AH SAY TO TALK WHILE DOIN' FUCKIN' PUSH UPS?!" Dusty clamped his mouth shut and Beach turned to Shipwreck who was next to Dusty. "MAYBE YOU MISTOOK THIS FER SOCIAL HOUR?! MAYBE Y'ALL NEED MORE PUSH UPS IF Y'ALL GOT BREATH TO HAVE CHATTY CATHY HOUR?!"

"No Sergeant major! Sorry Sergeant major!" Both Joes applied themselves to the exercises instead of chatter.

Beachhead was gazing at the ex-Cobra now however. The man flinched at his first yell. He'd shown nothing after that initial flinch... but it was a distinct flinch. Was he worried about Beachhead attacking him unexpectedly? Probably not. Beach had rounded on him unexpectedly with both of them standing and the man stood like a statue. Why now?

He moved down the line, putting a foot into the center of Leatherneck's back to press him all the way to the grass. "All the way down! This ain't no girly push up party, Leatherneck!" He didn't even listen to Leatherneck's response, instead watching for any reaction from the ninja who now appeared oblivious to the drill instructor.

He put a boot to Wetsuit and Torpedo to send them out onto the obstacle course, barely even glancing to see how they did. Instead he went back down the line, straightening elbows on a few, yelling at some to speed up, putting another foot into Mainframe who made a credible attempt to slack off as soon as he _thought_ Beachhead was past him.

Each time he did something, he was covertly checking for any reaction from Stormshadow. Nothing. He eyed Stalker one person past SnakeEyes and leaned to scream at him about straightening his legs and saw that same slight jerk. He almost opened his mouth to yell about friends of spooks to see if that got the reaction as well.

Suddenly things clicked into place. It wasn't who... it was the volume. Beach's eyes narrowed gleefully. Super-hearing. Perhaps it wasn't an exaggeration after all.

And if Beachhead had to suffer from worry over the ninja overhearing things, then it was only fair for the ninja to suffer because of it too.

Stormshadow was pumping out push ups as ordered, counting off the numbers like everyone else. And then Beachhead bent over next to him and screamed in his ear about his form, his speed and his ability to keep up with SnakeEyes. He couldn't quite control all of the wince.

After that one tiny reaction, the drill continued to return to shout noisily over and over. If it wasn't actually at Storm, it was at whoever was near Storm. As they stood waiting in line, Beach seemed pleased to shout at the entire group... while standing next to Storm. It didn't take long for the ninja to realize the torment was quite deliberate. Beach's smugness would have made it obvious to the most dense person.

"Geez, is Beach in a lousy mood this morning or what?" Dusty straightened up and looked innocent when the big Ranger glared down the line towards them. When he went back to the obstacle course, Dusty relaxed again. "Someone pissed in his wheaties."

Storm looked at him for a moment and decided nothing would be gained by accusing Dusty's teammate of being extra loud on purpose. As loud as the drill instructor was on a regular basis, convincing the Joes that he was being extra loud just because of Storm wouldn't be all that easy. Especially if he didn't intend to reveal exactly how good his hearing was, and therefor how sensitive his ears were. Pointing out that he was the reason behind the Ranger shouting at everyone else also probably wouldn't endear him to anyone.

When it was the ninja pair's turn, Beachhead took one last shot, screaming loudly into Storm's closest ear to "GO GO GO!" Storm gratefully took off, racing through the course and losing by at least a full two seconds to SnakeEyes again. After only a week, the two were normally neck-and-neck when paired together. Storm still was slowed considerably if being paired with a different Joe. He complained privately to Stalker that it wasn't his fault, that the Joe was the one holding back and losing precious seconds attempting to stay out of StormShadow's reach rather than working with him.

Stalker hadn't been all that sympathetic, which Storm expected. It was more complaining out of frustration than a legitimate concern. It was up to him to make the team trust him. Most of the team did tolerate him already. A few holdouts were still outright against his presence and Beachhead wasn't helping that in the least. He was sneaky though.

Waiting with his Clan brother, Storm turned and saw Beachhead headed for the finish line, a look of iron satisfaction. In a sudden burst of impatience, Storm gave SnakeEyes a sign and waited for Beach to turn his head to shout at someone else. Then he disappeared. There was plenty of hiding places around and in the courses and PT area and he easily made his way back to the motorpool and settled up in the rafters.

* * *

><p>Beachhead snarled angrily. "Where's yer gawddamn buddy spook?!" SnakeEyes simply held up his hands in a innocent gesture. "He was RIGHT GAWDDAMN HERE!"<p>

SnakeEyes repeated the gesture and then crossed his arms defiantly. While he disapproved of Stormshadow taking off during PT, he wasn't pleased with Beachhead's tactics either.

After a bit of stomping and yelling, Beachhead dismissed the group. The greenshirts would be in for a rough day.

SnakeEyes found the missing ninja easily, joining him in the rafters to watch the various Joes making their way towards the showers and messhall for breakfast. He looked at Storm for a moment waiting.

"What?" Unfolding himself from the roof girder he'd been lying on, Storm glared at SnakeEyes. "I'm sure you think I should have stayed there."

SnakeEyes nodded. *You are required to attend PT not hide and sulk*

"Sulk?!" Storm let out a soft obscenity in Japanese. "He's only yelling to make me uncomfortable! Someone told him about my hearing and he's using that to his advantage." He moved along the iron supports. "I don't have to put up with that."

His friend paced him easily. *Yes you do. You fight through gunshots and anti-aircraft fire. Shouting shouldn't bother you so much* He was grasping at straws. *Beachhead can only stay angry so long. You can outwait him*

"I'm beginning to think his hatred of me has no end." Stormshadow grumbled under his breath. "I've really had enough."

SnakeEyes began to sign quickly but Storm waved him off. "I won't be leaving, don't worry. But I won't be sitting and making myself a placid target either. If Beachhead wants a fight, he's going to get one."

Now thoroughly alarmed, SnakeEyes tried to reason with him again. *If you attack...*

"Don't be foolish, I'm not going to go attack the man. I have subtlety." Storm began to shinny down the wall, looking entirely too gleeful for SnakeEyes' nerves. "We'll just see who wins in the end."

As he disappeared into the shadows, SnakeEyes felt foreboding. Somehow he was certain that things were about to go very wrong for everyone.

* * *

><p>END Chapter<p>

Thanks for reading!


End file.
